Cause Of SteelTown Village Fire Officially 'Undetermined'

PHOENIXVILLE, PA — The cause of the destructive blaze at a nascent low income housing project in Phoenixville is officially "undetermined," authorities said.

The four-alarm fire laid waste to much of SteelTown Village, a once-controversial Wheatland Street project that gained final approval last year.

Chester County Chief Fire Marshal John Weer said that the investigation is no longer underway.

"We have exhausted our resources at this time and we have not concluded enough information based on the investigation to rule other than ‘undetermined,'" Weer said.

In the immediate wake of the blaze, fire officials said the blaze was aggravated by several factors. To begin with, a water main break nearby led to a water shortage for the engines that first arrived on the scene, leading a second alarm to be struck. Tanker crews had to bring water to the scene to help squash the blaze, and connections to hydrants that were blocks away from the fire had to be made.

Furthermore, since the housing project was still in its skeletal stages, there were no sprinkler systems operating, giving the fire a chance to quickly spread. The frames of the homes were all made of wood, so it easily caught.

As has been previously reported, Chester County had declared a Red Flag warning for the area, indicating that conditions were ripe for a fire: low humidity, hot, and high winds. However, authorities called the warning "coincidental."

It took about an hour for the fire to be brought under control, and crews remained at scene for around six hours. One firefighter was hospitalized for heat exhaustion.

Two homes across the street from SteelTown were damaged in the fire as well. Fire officials characterized the damage to one home as "moderate" and the other as "minor." The blaze rained ash on houses in the area, and embers sparked a brush fire in the neighborhood nearby, which was swiftly extinguished.

Image via Phoenixville Fire Department